It worked for Pitt... granted they got some generational players out of it, but still.

this is true, and it's probably an exception to the rule.

I just get frustrated when people hype a teams prospect pool, when the reality is they sucked a long time to get those prospects, they still suck now and the likelihood is if they depend solely on those prospects they will probably suck in the future.

I mean look at the teams that are ranked as having the best prospects- Minn, fla, nyi, edm, buf. What have those teams done in the past decade to make me say "boy I wish I was in their shoes moving forward."

Meanwhile teams that never rank that high on those prospect lists have their sights set on what's important- wins - and consistently compete for the cup, because they're not obsessed with getting younger and always building for next year.

This Varlamov situation is also getting mighty interesting. Some very disturbing details are coming from the girlfriend, how will the team go on with business when he returns to the roster, and how about Russia calling out the U.S. and saying it is a conspiracy to keep him out of the Olympics!

Chicago and Pittsburgh (and probably a few other teams in the history of the league) hit back to back winners in their high draft picks, which gave them instant or near instant playoff contention.

But how long did it take them to get there? Pretty darn near a decade or more of losing. And then you have teams constantly building for the future and the future never comes. How many times did Edmonton supposedly hit in their draft picks in the last 5 years? Buffalo? Florida? Minnesota?

To value a future pick or prospect or "potential to win" rather than going for it in the short term more often than not results in continued failure.

In a free agency league, you don't need to build a team with a 5 or 10 year plan. Most successful gms realize this.

I collect spores, molds and fungus.Hello fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you, thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot. What? Taxes, they'll be lower... son. The Democratic vote is the right thing to do Philadelphia, so do.How do you spot risk? How do you avoid risk? And what makes it so risky?